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A short while after Criss ' death, the band held a tribute show for the late guitarist, with the same line-up as the Streets tour but without Criss.

Alex Skolnick temporarily joined Savatage in 1994 for the release of their ninth album Handful of Rain, written by Jon Oliva and Paul O ' Neill.

Although the album is technically a Jon Oliva solo album, with Jon handling all instrumental duties except for vocals and lead guitars, the album was released under the Savatage moniker with bass and drum credits given to Middleton and Wacholz respectively, as Andy James had left the band following the death of Criss Oliva to pursue other projects.

The song " Chance " was the first Savatage song to contain the usage of counterpoint vocals, a style which they continued to use on following albums.

The album's final track, " Alone You Breathe ", was a tribute to Criss Oliva.

A live CD / VHS entitled Japan Live ' 94 ( in later releases it has been retitled Live in Japan ) was released at the conclusion of a very short tour in support of the album with Skolnick's three-piece band Exhibit-A and power metal band Tempo Tantrum.

After the tour, Alex Skolnick left the band to pursue other interests.

In a 2011 interview, Skolnick had this to say about his time with Savatage: